Charles Morgan (businessman)

Charles Morgan
Portrait by Nathaniel Harris Morgan in 1869
Born	(1795-04-21)April 21, 1795 Clinton, Connecticut, U.S.
Died	May 8, 1878(1878-05-08) (aged 83) New York City, New York, U.S.
Resting place	Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York
Occupation(s)	Merchant, entrepreneur (shipping), investor
Known for	Morgan Line Morgan Iron Works Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Railroad
Spouses	Emily Reeves ​ ​ (m. 1817; died 1850)​ Mary Jane Sexton ​ (m. 1851)​
Children	5

Charles Morgan (April 21, 1795 – May 8, 1878) was an American railroad and shipping magnate. He played a leading role in the development of transportation and commerce in the Southern United States through the mid- to late-19th century.

Morgan started working in New York City at the age of 14. He managed both wholesale and retail businesses before specializing in marine shipping. He invested in sailing vessels as early as 1819, while managing all aspects of the business from his office at the wharf in New York City. He started his first partnership for a packet company in 1831. During the 1830s, he held stakes in companies shipping to Kingston, Jamaica, and Charleston, South Carolina, from New York, and a stake in a company shipping between New Orleans and Galveston, Texas. During this time, he invested more in steamships than sailing ships. The Louisiana–Texas packets became so successful that he gradually withdrew from the Atlantic trade in the late 1830s. Charles Morgan's Steamships primary cargo from Rhode Island to the South were Slaves.

In the 1840s and 1850s, Morgan expanded his shipping business in the Gulf of Mexico, expanding service to Mexico, Florida, and adding stops in Texas. Texas statehood and the Mexican War were boons to his enterprises of shipping mail, troops, and war material. By 1846, he sold his last stake in a sailing vessel. After 1849 and through part of the 1850s, Morgan responded to transportation demand to California driven by the gold rush. He offered passenger service from New York City to San Francisco via Panama. These activities pulled him into business alliances and rivalries with Cornelius Vanderbilt which culminated in Morgan's support of William Walker's filibuster in Nicaragua. Morgan also attempted to damage Vanderbilt's investments and his business positions before they agreed to a truce in 1858. In the late 1850s, a lucrative business developed out of a segment of railroad running between New Orleans and Berwick Bay, Louisiana. The railroad terminated in a desolate part of the state, and Morgan's steamers enabled the railroad to create revenue from an expensive infrastructure investment. In return, the railroad shortened Morgan's Louisiana to Texas route by about 150 miles. In 1855, Morgan incorporated his assets for the first time, co-founding the Southern Steamship Company. With family and other close friends managing the company, Morgan accelerated his investments in steamboats.

During the Civil War, he lost some of his investments to seizures by the North and the South. Most of the steamers seized were corporately owned by the Southern Steamship Company, which led to its liquidation in 1863. Morgan, however, prospered during the war despite these losses. He ran blockade runners for the Confederacy, but his most profitable venture during this period was the Morgan Iron Works. This shop built engines for thirteen ships sold to the Union Navy. At the end of the war, he repurchased some of these steamships at favorable prices.

During Reconstruction, Morgan sold his interest in the Morgan Iron Works. He also took advantage of the buyer's market for steamships and expanded his fleet. He resumed his Gulf packet service between New Orleans and Texas, and between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama. In 1869, he acquired his first railroad. Two more railroad acquisitions followed in the 1870s. He died on May 8, 1878, at his home in New York City. Just prior to his death, he incorporated Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Railroad and Steamship Company and distributed his shares to several family members.